January, 2033
The other Earth-bound countries continue to have problems figuring out what the Russians are doing as their intelligence agencies are forced to rely almost completely on orbital surveillance. Still, they are able to obtain some information. It soon becomes clear that the Russians are making large-scale changes within their borders, some of which are incomprehensible. Amongst the other changes, it appears that the Russians have disbanded many of their infantry divisions, maybe as many as 30-40.
March, 2033
The Alliance Navy “grounds” its Tracker class scout fleet. The first unit of the Tracker class was built in 2014 and since then the six existing units have served with both the combat fleet and the Survey Command, where they watch out over unarmed survey units exploring new and potentially dangerous star systems. Unfortunately, it is their service with the Survey Command that has caused the problem. The Survey Groups are often away from Earth for extended periods of time, usually extending into multiple year deployments. The Tracker class has proved to be too vulnerable to maintenance failures for this sort of rugged duty, and the decision was made to withdraw the scouts from frontline service after a second Tracker class suffered a major maintenance failure while on routine deployment with the 1st Survey Group. The Navy High Command is currently considering its options for this class.
The changes continue in Russia. Orbital surveillance spots large-scale activity in the areas surrounding the Russian shipyards. The area’s population has swollen by at least several million, and vast amounts of construction equipment have been brought in. In addition, work has stopped on several partially completed hulls, the remnants of which have been abandoned.
May, 2033
The Novaran survey-jumpship Scarabus-002 rendezvous with the two grav survey ships in its squadron after completing its survey of the Skye system, and its probe of the single additional warp point found in the system. Survey Group #2’s current survey mission has lasted over two years, and the ships are running low on fuel and supplies. It is time to return home. The squadron sets its course for Novara, a trip that will take sixty-six days.
June, 2033
The Alliance, Reich, Imperial Japan, and the Indian Republic have all cautiously been studying the former USSR to try and determine what has happened and what can be expected from the Russians in the future. Unfortunately, ever since The Event, information from inside Russia has been hard to come by. In the aftermath of The Event, the leaders of all four nations ordered their respective intelligence services to determine what happened, and to try and figure out what the USSR’s intentions were.
In the days and weeks following the Event, the USSR steadily shut off all contact with other nations, up to the point where it withdrew its ambassadors and their staffs. Since then there has been no traffic into or out of the Soviet Union. Worse, every foreign intelligence service lost every one of its human intelligence sources inside the USSR during The Event. None of the agents or sources inside of Russia have been seen or heard of since that day, and attempts to penetrate the Soviet border either clandestinely or openly have all met with failure. In addition, since The Event, all transmissions of all sorts have dropped off to zero, meaning that electronic surveillance is useless. In the absence of Elsur and Humint, the various intelligence services have been limited to orbital surveillance and long-range optical observation from high-altitude planes and dirigibles flying outside Russian air-space. This type of intelligence gathering can certainly provide details about WHAT is going on, but cannot answer the critical question of WHY.
In one form or another, the four major governments receive the reports of their intelligence services this month. All four intelligence services conclude that a fundamental change has occurred in Russia, but they cannot determine what exactly that change is. This change has, on the one hand, caused the Russians to behave in inexplicable ways, such as the construction of three very large dams deep in the Siberian tundra, far from any major rivers or other sources of water. On the other hand, the change has also boosted Soviet productivity by approximately 40%, and has allowed them to concentrate personnel and resources in and around the ground-based portions of their shipyards that has, at a conservative estimate, doubled their ship-building capacity. The dam construction would seem to argue that the Russians have, as a nation, lost their mind, while the shipyard expansion argues just the opposite, that they have enhanced their capabilities.
In any case, the reports from all four intelligence services are troubling. No motives can be attributed to their actions, and their willingness to completely cut themselves off from the other nations is very disturbing. Even at the height of Soviet paranoia there was still quiet a bit of contact between the Russians and other nations, both formal and informal. Now there is none. Before The Event the Russians were troubling but predictable, whereas now they are completely unpredictable. Completely unpredictable is not a term that any of the national leaders want used in relation to a national government armed with many nuclear weapons.
The Reich and the Alliance governments react to their intelligence service’s reports almost identically. Even with their increased capacity the Russians are not a match for either of the major nations, economically or militarily, and while their essential unpredictability is disturbing, both nations have been busy building meson defense stations since the African Civil War. The Reich currently has four such stations and the Alliance has three. The national leadership of both nations decides to accelerate the construction of defense stations to ensure the safety of their people.
The Indian Republic is in a much worse position than either of the two major nations. They share a very long land border with the Russians, and their economy and military are not nearly as large as Russia’s. There is very little that the Indians can do about this situation, though. In the end they decide to bolster their missile defenses and to continue watching the Russians very carefully.
The Japanese government reacts somewhat differently than the other nations. It has long been the goal of both Japan and Russia to grow more powerful than the Reich and the Alliance, but in truth they have both viewed the other as their true competitor. They have both known that they would have to climb over the other to achieve their true destiny. The Shogun, who receives the reports on the Russians, decides that the Russians are in collapse. The absence of internal radio and television signals, the apparently random construction projects, the disbanding of so many army divisions, and the isolation all point to a nation with severe problems. This appears to present a glowing opportunity which the Shogun decides he cannot miss, for Japan is having severe internal problems.
The Chinese cloning project has been, perhaps, too successful. The thought of a Chinese rebellion is now unthinkable, but this problem has now been replaced by the reality of a China that is broken up into almost feudal prefectures ruled by Japanese governors and staffed by Chinese clones loyal to the Prefecture governors. These Prefectures are almost completely independent and are like small kingdoms within the Empire. Worse, the non-Japanese, non-Chinese citizens of the Empire, spread throughout the Pacific islands and numbering in the hundreds of millions, are growing restive, disturbed by the fate of the Chinese and increasingly disenfranchised by the Empire. A war with the Russians might be just what is needed to cull the Chinese clones and prune back the burgeoning power of the new governors, and to quell the growing unrest throughout the Pacific.
On the strength of the intelligence reports, the Shogun goes to the Emperor to make his case for war with the Russians. Approval is a forgone conclusion, as it has been a long time since an Emperor went against the expressed wishes of a Shogun.
July, 2033
Indian terraformers operating over Ludhiana finally complete their mission and reduce the planet’s oxygen percentage to below 30%, meaning that the colonists can now live on the surface without any special equipment.
Late in the month the Novaran 2nd Survey Group returns home to refuel and resupply. Once there they learn that the 1st Survey Group is overdue. The 1st should have returned six months ago to refuel, resupply, and for an overhaul, but it did not, and as the only other Novaran jump ship was with the 2nd Survey Group no rescue could be mounted. The Scarabus-002, escorted by three Toad II class destroyers, departs immediately to find the 1st Survey Group.
July 19, 2033
The Japanese launch a large-scale conventional invasion of Russia. The invasion is prefaced by a warning from the Japanese high-command to the Russians against launching any nuclear weapons against the Empire.
The Empire launches a total of seventy combat divisions against the Russians, led by thirteen armored and fifteen clone shock divisions. The Russians are caught by surprise, with the bulk of their armored and assault infantry divisions sequestered in their PDC troop bays.
Within a half hour of the initiation of hostilities, both the Reich and the Alliance warn both sides that any use of nuclear weapons against targets on the Earth’s surface will be considered a hostile act, and will be met with instant retaliation designed to end the capacity of the offending nation to conduct such strikes in the future.
Observers from the Reich, Alliance, and the Indian Republic are present for much of the fighting, albeit remotely, and the intelligence gathered about both sides is extremely interesting. The Russians involved in the fighting are all cyborgs, heavily augmented with cyber-implants clearly designed to enhance their strength, speed, defense, offense, and communications abilities. As before, there is no apparent communications between the Russians at any level, from personal all the way up to the army level, and they fight in eerie silence. The Russians are fighting well, and are obviously well led and extremely coordinated in their actions.
What is surprising to most of the observers is the changes in the Japanese. Everyone knew and was expecting massive changes to the Russians, but, in spite of the fact that most everyone knew that the Japanese Empire had been changing internally, no one expected the extent to which they had actually changed. The bulk of the Imperial troops are quite obviously clones, very similar if not identical. The troopers are obviously descended from Chinese stock, and in spite of being heavily altered they still retain enough racial traits to make their heritage obvious. The standard trooper is approximately six feet tall and massively built, obviously very powerful and capable of carrying large amounts of equipment over long distances. In addition, in spite of their large size, the troopers are fairly fast, very good with their weapons, and quite willing to sacrifice themselves in any numbers necessary to achieve their goals, making them a significant threat on the battlefield. The biggest surprise to the observers, though, is the changes to the Japanese themselves. All of the officers observed on the battlefield are Japanese, however, they too have been altered, although they are not as identical as their troopers are. The officers are all very short, compared to their troopers, perhaps 4.5 to 5 feet tall, and very thin and wiry, and very, very fast. In one video obtained from a surveillance drone watching a small unit action between Russian cyborgs and a squad of Imperial clones, an officer is seen moving so fast he actually blurs, and he uses his sword with devastating effect until he is brought down by overwhelming fire from the surviving cyborgs.
The information gathered by the surveillance drones is very sobering for the three uninvolved nations. The Russians are clearly technologically superior to the Japanese, but the advantages conveyed by being able to field large numbers of clones is obvious. Worse, the Reich is shocked to discover that the Japanese have achieved equality with the Reich in terms of ground combat technology, and that the Russians are actually substantially ahead. For the Alliance the situation is worse, because they have neglected their ground combat technology even more so than the Reich. Research and development schedules are hurriedly reprioritized.
July 19-24, 2033
Japanese losses are heavy, heavier than Russian losses, but the invading Japanese forces manage to destroy parts of the ground-based portions of the main Russian shipyards. In spite of the success of the operation against the Russian shipyards, the Japanese do not achieve any of their initial goals and are facing much more determined resistance than they had anticipated. Five Japanese infantry divisions are destroyed in the fighting, compared to two Russian infantry divisions and two non-combatant divisions.
The Russians are fighting much harder and better than the Japanese leaders had been led to expect. Russian troops are well-led, and every trooper is augmented with extensive cyber-equipment, boosting strength and speed, along with various other capabilities. Japanese clone troopers are altered for size and strength, and are brutally trained in combat techniques, but are unable to match the cybernetically augmented Russian troops and are only maintaining parity through overwhelming numbers.
The Imperial Navy mounts a major fleet action focused on escorting the Empire’s four troop transports to Titan, where they pick up four of the five combat divisions deployed to guard the mining outpost. Approximately a third of the Imperial Navy escorts the transports, while the remainder hovers in high orbit, watching the Russian fleet, which against all expectations makes no move.
It is during this period of time that the Russian military begins responding to the invasion. Seven armored divisions leave their revetments deep inside Russia, along with seven shock infantry and six infantry divisions. The twenty divisions head for the front lines north of China.
The governments of the Reich, Alliance, and India all come under intense pressure from internal political groups advocating war with the Russians. The changes in Russia have frightened many in the three democratic nations, and with open war raging in the Far East there are significant minorities in the three nations pushing for a “piling-on” with Japan. While the possibility is seriously considered in all three nations, the fact that the Russians have been revealed to be more formidable than originally thought is lost on no one. The likelihood that the Russians will respond with nuclear weapons if the other nations attack as well is considered a near certainty, so the other governments decide to sit out the war.
July 25-29, 2033
The second week of fighting is brutal. The Japanese high command is desperate now, after having promised a quick victory against a disorganized enemy, and their desperation spurs their frontline commanders to greater heights of effort. The Japanese lose nine combat divisions, including four armored and one clone shock infantry division, while the Russians lose six infantry, two shock infantry, one garrison, and one engineering divisions.
Damage to the Russian economy is heavy. A total of 5.6 million Russians have died so far, and approximately thirty economic installations of various types have been destroyed by marauding Japanese forces. To date the combat has all taken place inside of Russia, there have been no counter-attacks into Japanese territory.
July 30 to August 4, 2033
The Imperial Japanese Fleet escorts its troop ships into Earth orbit, where they then unload their divisions straight to landing fields in northern China. The Russian Fleet remains quiescent as the landings take place.
Even as the four new Japanese combat divisions move into place a massive Russian counter-offensive slams into the Japanese lines, piercing them in several places and striking deep into the Imperial Chinese territories. This new Russian offensive is led by twenty fresh infantry divisions previously unknown to Imperial Military Intelligence.
Once again the fighting is brutal, but the desperate Japanese commanders are completely willing to spend the lives of their clone troopers in any amount to stop the Russians. Twelve Russian combat divisions are destroyed in the fighting, the bulk of which are the fresh infantry divisions. Eight Imperial divisions are destroyed, mostly infantry as well. Economic losses are heavy on both sides, with the Russians losing 800,000 civilians and another slipway, while the Japanese lose 3.2 million non-combatant clones and sixteen economic facilities.
August 5-9, 2033
The Japanese Empire is left reeling when once again twenty new Russian infantry divisions slam into their lines, bolstering the forces already engaged. Imperial Intelligence has no idea where these divisions are coming from, and cannot estimate when the flow of additional troops will end.
The fighting remains brutal and desperate, with neither side’s forces asking for or receiving quarter. Russian cyber infantry and Japanese clone troopers never give up, even in the most extreme situations, and the result is a slaughter of epic proportions. Twenty-five divisions are destroyed on both sides, along with five million non-combatants and thirty-three economic installations. The damage is almost equally divided between the two combatants.
August 10-14, 2033
Japanese lines are hit by twenty fresh Russian cyber-infantry divisions, the latest in what is beginning to look like an inexhaustible supply. Fifteen divisions are destroyed on both sides, along with three million non-combatants. Twelve Russian economic installations are destroyed, and a Japanese slipway is destroyed in a lightning strike by Russian armored units.
After five weeks of fighting the Imperial Japanese Army has inflicted severe casualties on the Russians, knocking forty-seven divisions out of the fight, approximately two thirds of the pre-war Russian force. Unfortunately, the Russians have found some way to mobilize over sixty infantry divisions composed of their cyber-troops. Worse, the Imperial Army has suffered heavy casualties as well. Frontline Imperial Army forces have lost thirty-nine divisions in the fighting, leaving only thirty one divisions to carry on the fight. Army generals are forced to admit to the Shogun that they can no longer achieve their goals and will be hard pressed to stop the Russians if new divisions continue to appear on the front lines.
The Shogun has staked his career on this offensive into Russian territory and cannot back down now. In desperation, the Shogun turns to the Imperial Navy. When approached, the commander of the Japanese Home Fleet, Cho-sho Kintaro, warned the Shogun that the Russian fleet, which was composed of fifteen cruisers, twenty destroyers, and twelve missile frigates, was an unknown quantity. The Russian fleet was inferior to the Japanese fleet during the battle of Titan, in 2014, but that was nineteen years ago and the Russian fleet was known to have been refitted at least twice since then. The Japanese fleet had been refit with new technology as well, but that only meant that there was no way to determine the relative power of each fleet. In any case, the Cho-sho warned the Shogun that the Japanese fleet was at a disadvantage in orbit, as it must raise its shields before engaging the Russian ships, while the Russian ships were known to be heavily armored and thus didn’t need to raise their shields. However, the Shogun was aware that the Imperial Navy had engaged in a program of randomly raising and lowering its shields over the last several weeks, and the Russian ships had remained quiet throughout.
After some debate between the Shogun and his closest advisors, the Shogun made up his mind. The Imperial Fleet would be ordered to attack the Russian Fleet, eliminate it, and then a blockade would be enforced against the Russians until they surrendered. Cut off from their off-world holdings, they would have no choice. Or in any case, that was the working idea.
August 15, 2033, 0308 hours
Once tasked by the Emperor himself, the admirals of the Imperial Navy developed a detailed plan to eliminate the Russian presence in Earth orbit. The plan was built around the current deployment of the fleet, which the admirals felt could not be changed without alerting the Russians. Fortunately, the fleet was well positioned for the upcoming offensive. The Missile Combat Group was composed of twenty-four Kongo class missile cruisers, escorted by eighteen Zuikaku destroyers, and was orbiting the Moon. The Close Combat Group was composed of nine Akagi class laser cruisers and seventeen Zuikaku destroyers and was in Earth orbit, effectively at point blank range of the enemy.
The plan developed by the admirals recognized the fact that the primary striking power of the Navy lies in the Missile Combat Group, whereas the Close Combat Group was more or less evenly matched against the Russians, who were known to field heavily armored ships equipped with rail guns. Hostilities would be initiated by the Beam Combat Group, which would begin engaging the Russian destroyers with point blank laser fire in an attempt to strip the Russian fleet of its missile defenses. The Japanese admirals decided to ignore the Russian missile frigates on the basis that they were known to be equipped with launchers that were slow to reload. The admirals considered it more important to strip away the Russian missile defense destroyers than to attack their missile frigates, which would be likely to get off at least one salvo no matter what happened.
The Imperial Navy’s plan began on schedule. As one the two squadrons of Imperial Navy ships began raising their shields. Ten minutes later the Fleet’s shields were at full strength and the second phase began. Active sensors popped on throughout the two squadrons, and then five seconds later things began happening.
The first sign that things weren’t going to go all the Imperial Navy’s way was when the Russian fleet activated its sensors at the very same time that the Japanese ships activated theirs. Apparently the Russians could calculate the point at which the Japanese ship’s shields would reach full power.
Once the engagement began things became chaotic almost immediately. The Russian and Japanese ships in Earth orbit were at knife fighting range from the start, and to make things worse there were dozens of other ships in orbit belonging to the other countries, even after most of the non-combatants had moved out to safer harbors. In particular, the Japanese had no wish to anger the Alliance, which maintained almost thirty orbital weapons platforms of unknown power. While most of them were built by the Africans and thus suspected to be outdated, the six heavy weapons platforms built by the Alliance were equipped with massive laser turrets and were undoubtedly dangerous opponents in orbital combat. Almost as bad was the Reich, which had eighty seven warships sitting in a distant orbit approximately 400,000 kilometers out. That many ships could throw a lot of missiles in a very short time. A mistake which drew in either major power would be devastating for the party that made the mistake.
The Japanese admirals that had planned the combat had anticipated getting off at least one unanswered barrage, but they didn’t get even that. The Russians were ready for the attack and rail gun slugs began spitting forth from their cannons almost before the Japanese fired their lasers. To the crews of the other national fleets which were watching, it appeared that explosions began magically appearing amongst both fleets. The Japanese lasers were invisible unless they passed through some obstruction, and the Russian rail gun slugs were very small and moving very fast. The result on both sides was the same, sudden, devastating explosions that knocked down shields and shredded armor.
The Japanese fleet began with a very carefully thought out fire-plan. The Akagi class laser cruisers and their Zuikaku class escorts opened up with their 12cm lasers, firing on seven of the Russian Moskva escorts. Meanwhile, the Kongo class missile cruisers orbiting the Moon began launching their missiles targeted on five of the Russian cruisers. The Imperial Navy ships performed excellently, with nearly all of them firing on their marks. The onslaught of fire ripped into the Russian fleet, causing heavy damage.
The Russians were not caught sleeping. Russian ships began firing back almost immediately, even as the Japanese lasers began raking their ships. The Russian mass drivers began slamming into Japanese ships, shredding their shields and gouging their armor. Virtually every weapon hit on both sides, given the short range. The advantage after the first round of fire went to the Japanese, who caused internal damage to four Russian destroyers. Seven Imperial Akagi class cruisers were hit by twenty-four mass driver slugs each, not one suffered internal damage.
To the crew of Alliance Orbital Weapons Station (Heavy) 001, unofficially known as “The Queen”, the battle was fascinating. The orbital units of both sides were well within visual range with the use of the optical imaging systems that the OWS(H) was equipped with, and they could see the flashing explosions that marked seven of the Russian destroyers and seven Japanese cruisers. The OWP(H)’s crew had put the display up on their CIC’s central monitor, split between the two sides. For the most part the ships were invisible, unless they were being fired upon. The fourteen ships that were receiving fire were surrounded by sparkles of visible light, each one an aftereffect of a hit by a weapon. The officers and crew in the CIC watched as four of the Russian targets began losing atmosphere and bits and pieces of them began to be peeled away by the merciless laser fire from the Japanese ships.
Lieutenant Orozco shook his head. “Looks like the Russians are bugging out, sir.” He pointed at the plot board, where the vectors of the various groups of ships in Earth orbital space were plotted. The OWP(H)’s AI had noted a change and updated the display to show that fourteen Russian destroyers and twelve missile frigates were moving out of orbit, headed out to deep space, away from the vicious combat going on close to Earth.
“Lord, look at that!” The anonymous comment drew all of their eyes back to the wall mounted display, where the battle was still taking place. The sparkling around the Russian ships had maintained its intensity, and in the back of her head Rear Admiral O’laughlin filed away the information that the Japanese had a very short recharge time on their laser turrets. She could see that the sparkles around the Japanese ships had fallen way off, although there were still rail gun hits being generated, just not near as many, indicating that the Russians had a longer recharge time on their weapons than the Japanese. Suddenly, three of the Russian destroyers exploded, leaving only tumbling wreckage.
“First blood to the Japanese.” Rear Admiral O’laughlin shook her head. This could get out of hand very easily. She focused on the plot, which now showed that the Japanese orbital group was breaking orbit to follow the fleeing Russian ships. The plot also showed anti-missiles streaming away from the Russian destroyers, headed towards a large wave of Japanese missiles inbound from their group orbiting the Moon.
In the meantime, the Russians had apparently managed to recharge their larger rail guns because everyone in Alliance OWP(H)’s CIC could see the sparkles and flashes around the Japanese cruisers pick back up to their original intensity. Five of the seven Japanese cruisers that were outlined by the flashes of impacting rail gun fire began spilling atmosphere and bits and pieces of themselves into the void, and all five slowed and began falling behind the rest of the Japanese fleet as it sped in pursuit of the fleeing Russians. The CIC crew could see that the Russians weren’t the only ones drawing blood, though, when another Russian destroyer exploded and four others began spilling atmosphere out of their shredded hulls.
As the two groups of ships fought for their lives over Earth, two groups of missiles came together halfway to the Moon. Russian anti-missiles slammed into the first wave of Long Lance II missiles headed towards the Kirov class cruisers dueling with the Japanese Akagi class laser cruisers. The Japanese missiles were fully as fast as the Russian interceptors, so the hit percentage was very low. Fifteen of the eighteen Japanese missiles continued on towards their targets after the interception.
Once again the OWP(H)’s CIC crew watched as the Russian rail gun fire fell off as their heavy guns recharged, while the lighter rail gun fire and the Japanese 12 cm laser fire continued unabated. Yet another Russian destroyer blew up in a spectacular explosion as the Japanese lasers ate into its vitals, but the Russians weren’t ready to give up and their lighter rail guns kept up a steady barrage on the Japanese fleet.
The battle was chaotic, and with missiles sleeting in on both formations things got worse. Fifty six Russian anti-missiles intercepted the first waves of Japanese missiles as they closed on the Russian cruisers, but they only killed four of the attacking missiles. The rest scored sixteen, nineteen, and twenty one hits on three Russian cruisers, respectively, causing minor internal damage to one of the cruisers. It was apparent to the watching Alliance crew member’s in the Queen’s CIC that the Japanese missiles had relatively light warheads and that the Russian ships had very heavy armor.
At the same time that the Japanese missiles arrived at the Russian force, the Japanese force orbiting the Moon was beset by Russian missiles launched by their frigates. Zuikaku class destroyers interposed themselves between the oncoming missiles and their charges, knocking eighteen down as they passed. Later analysis would show that they achieved a twenty-five percent hit ratio, disappointing given the investment the Empire had made in their weapons and tracking systems. Twenty six of the remaining Russian missiles slammed into a single Japanese missile cruiser, heavily damaging it and knocking it out of the fight.
Meanwhile, closer to Earth, the two sides continued to tear at each other. The Queen’s crew watched as the sparkles of weapons hits spread out to other ships on both sides, and in short order the Japanese managed to destroy two more Russian destroyers. The Russians maintained their steady rail gun fire on the same Japanese Akagi class cruisers, and the watchers on board the Queen could see atmosphere and portions of hull plating and internal fittings spinning away from all eight of their targets.
As all of this was going, almost unnoticed by the Japanese, a Russian colony transport, mistaken by the Japanese battle management system for a Russian destroyer, was taken under heavy laser fire and destroyed. The small disaster changed the course of the entire battle.
Unlike the other governments, for some unknown and inscrutable reason the Russians had not moved all of their non-combatants away from Earth. Several freighters and colony transports remained in Earth orbit, and unknown to the other combatants, the colony transports were packed with colonists. When the colony ship was skewered by Japanese lasers 25,000 colonists died. Later analysis by the other nations would identify the death of the colony ship as the precipitating event for what came next, but no one could explain why the death of a colony ship and twenty-five thousand colonists would cause such a dramatic response when millions of Russians had died on the ground from the ground war. It didn’t make sense, but then, that was what had worried the other nations in the first place.
Rear Admiral O’laughlin’s head jerked around when missile launch warnings began sounding throughout the CIC. Missile launch tracks began blossoming from five Russian PDC’s, and in a few seconds one hundred and twenty missiles were in flight. “Damn it! What the hell do they think they are doing? Comm’s, orders?”
The Comm officer shook her head. In any case, in a situation like this the Alliance’s strategic defenses would be handled by the National Defense AI’s, and any immediate response would be initiated and carried out by automated systems.
“Ma’am, their targets are now identified! It’s the Japanese Fleet!”
Admiral O’laughlin sagged into her chair. “Thank god!” She knew her response wasn’t exactly professional, but for a second she had visions of the planet below her burning, and it wasn’t something she wanted to experience…ever.
The Comm’s officer nodded, and then turned from her station. “Ma’am, the Strategic Defense AI’s have warned the Russians and the Japanese against any launches against ground-based targets, and has brought all of our ground bases to maximum launch alert status. The Reich is doing the same.” The strategic defense AI’s didn’t bother warning against launching against orbital targets. Ever since the African Civil War and its aftermath everyone knew that the western nations wouldn’t dare to launch against ground targets and thus increase the background radiation count unless they had absolutely no other choice.
Rear Admiral O’laughlin stared at the display, feeling the deck under her feet shifting as the Queen’s massive laser turret rotated under AI control, ready to intercept any missiles launched against Alliance targets. The OWP(H)’s artificial gravity was supposed to be absolutely steady, but the Queen’s quad 20 centimeter laser turret was so big that it actually took up half the OWP’s mass, and whenever the turret began swiveling the effects could be felt throughout the entire OWP. The shifting of the OWP under her feet mirrored the feelings O’laughlin was feeling as a general nuclear exchange loomed closer and closer.
In the Japanese National Command bunker, the Japanese leaders were shocked at the escalation. The battle in orbit was chaotic, and it was difficult to tell who would gain the upper hand. The destruction of the Russian colony ship had gone unnoticed by the Japanese commanders, and thus the launch of planetary missiles was completely unexpected. The Shogun, present in the command center for the battle, felt the weight of destiny settle onto his shoulders as the Russian missiles raced towards the Japanese fleet in orbit.
While the Japanese leaders tried to get their minds around the sudden escalation, the Japanese fleet began unraveling under the pressure. Every single one of the Japanese cruiser commanders ordered his lasers turned to the defense of his own ship when they saw the big missiles rising from the Russian ground-based launchers, and half of the destroyer commanders did the same. The rest turned their weapons to the defense of the entire fleet, but with the bulk of the fleet’s defenses lost to local control the Imperial fleet was in trouble.
Even as the Japanese leaders tried to cope with the massive escalation of the battle, Rear Admiral O’laughlin and her people continued to have a ringside seat for the battle. O’laughlin was watching the missile plot, taking in the continued poor performance of the Russian anti-missile missiles, when the Queen’s AI signaled a change by highlighting a Japanese missile wave launched from their fleet at the Moon. The missile wave was approaching its target when a quarter of the missiles were suddenly destroyed. O’laughlin shook her head. “Queen, was that Russian rail gun point defense fire?” If so it was then the Russians were demonstrating a longer range than previously.
The cool soprano of the OWP’s AI sounded from the overhead. “No ma’am. The Strategic Defense AI is currently theorizing that the Russians are employing ground-based meson missile defense stations.” Even as the AI spoke the Japanese missile strike broke free of the point defense zone and slammed into a Russian cruiser, causing massive explosions that apparently failed to penetrate the ship’s armor.
O’laughlin frowned as the fresh escalation settled into her mind. The pressure on the Japanese to respond would be intense. Even as she thought it through the battle continued. The sparkles of weapons hits continued on both sides, with the Russians continuing to receive the worst. As O’laughlin watched two Russian ships were left drifting hulks by intense laser fire. Russian rail gun fire continued to wear away at seven Japanese cruisers, but the Imperial ships were tough and it took time for the rail guns to wear down their defenses.
“Here they come!”
The anonymous statement drew O’laughlin’s eyes back to the CIC’s central missile plot, which showed the massive wave of ground-based missiles closing on the Japanese fleet. The Russian ground-based missiles were targeted on fifteen Imperial ships, six destroyers and nine cruisers. By luck or design the Russians had launched their missiles at exactly the worst time, during the short recharge time for the older Japanese destroyers, and the missiles aimed at the Japanese destroyers closed without opposition as the cruiser’s faster firing lasers had been turned to defense of the mounting ships only. O’laughlin watched in fascination as the big ground-based missiles slammed into the Japanese destroyer force, which was struggling to interpose itself in between the embattled cruisers and the new threat. Massive explosions pocked space as the missiles reached their target and when they cleared all six destroyers were shedding atmosphere and hull plating, but they were still maneuvering, still fighting. O’laughlin’s fascination turned to horror when she saw the results of the missile barrage on the cruisers. Six of the cruisers managed to stop the bulk of the missiles targeted on them with their lasers, but all of the cruisers had taken damage by this point, and their shields were down and their armor shredded. Three of the valiant ships exploded under the missile barrage, and the other six were obviously heavily damaged as they limped out of the explosions that had briefly surrounded them. In seconds three of the survivors were shredded by the incessant Russian rail gun fire.
Even as Rear Admiral O’laughlin watched the destruction of the two fleets, events were reaching critical mass in the Japanese National Command Center. The Shogun was reeling with the pace of events that threatened to spin out of control. Some Imperial admirals were demanding that he authorize a ground-based strike against the Russian fleet, to balance the Russian strike, while others were demanding that the Imperial ground-based launchers be targeted on Russian launchers in a counter-force strike to prevent them from launching against the fleet again. In spite of his title the Shogun wasn’t a military man, and he was lost. Finally he blurted out and answer to the demands. “Launch, damn it, launch!”
A silence fell in the bunker. After a few seconds Cho-sho Kintaro stepped forward. “Sir, launch on what target?”
The Shogun stared at the commander of the fleet blankly for a second, then he shrugged. “On the Russian fleet, of course. Launch now! We must prevent them from winning!”
Cho-sho Kintaro’s hand fell away from his sidearm. He had spent his life serving the Imperial throne, but had the Shogun ordered him to launch against Russian ground-based targets he would have killed him on the spot. The Alliance and the Reich wouldn’t leave one stone standing against another in the Home Islands if they did that, and he would not be the author of the Empire’s destruction. Instead he bowed. “Very well.”
In the meantime, as the Japanese leaders sorted themselves out, the battle continued. O’laughlin and her people watched as the two fleets continued to tear at each other. In spite of Japanese destroyers determined to defend their charges, thirty six Russian missiles were able to break past them, getting twenty-three hits against two Japanese missile cruisers, knocking one of them out of the battle. In the orbital battle three more Japanese destroyers were damaged by rail gun fire, and another Japanese cruiser was finally overwhelmed and destroyed as well. The battle between the orbital groups appeared to be tailing off, though, with the Japanese ship’s lasers turned to their own defense. O’laughlin noticed that Russian rail gun fire on the Japanese fleet was falling off and had her mouth open to ask the AI to confirm her impression, but before she could speak the AI beat her to it.
“Missile launch detected!” O’laughlin’s head whipped around at the AI’s announcement to see missile tracks blossoming over the Japanese Home Islands. “Estimate one hundred and twelve Japanese ground-based missiles outbound for orbital targets.” Once again O’laughlin forced herself to take a deep breath in relief that the targets weren’t cities. She watched with intense interest as the Japanese ground-based missiles raced towards their targets, which were soon identified as six Russian cruisers. Almost immediately after launching the Japanese missiles began dying as Russian rail guns reached out for them. Orbital space in between the Russian fleet and the Earth’s surface was spalled by explosions that marched ever closer to the fleet as the missiles penetrated the Russian point defense envelope. Later AI analysis would show that the Russian rail guns engaged fifty six missiles, destroying sixteen and hitting but failing to destroy fourteen more. All O’laughlin could see at the time was the march of explosions extending towards and then engulfing the Russian cruisers. When the explosions cleared three of the cruisers were spilling atmosphere and broken plating into space, and maneuvering at drastically reduced speed, but the other three appeared undamaged.
“The Japanese have had enough.” The plot showed that the Japanese fleet was turning towards the Moon and had accelerated to their top speed, in apparent attempt to join their two forces together and put some space between themselves and the Russian planetary launchers. Even as the Japanese ships turned away the next salvo of Japanese missiles from their force around the Moon streaked in on the Russian ships in orbit. Russian rail guns and planetary meson cannons attempted to intercept the incoming missiles, and actually managed to stop a few, but the remaining sixty four missiles slammed into three Russian cruisers. One cruiser simply disappeared into the explosions, never to emerge. The second suffered heavy damage and left a trail of atmosphere and hull plating as it limped away. O’laughlin watched as the third was struck by eighteen missiles and then suffered two massive internal explosions, the last of which broke the ship’s back and left the two portions spinning away into space.
Down on the ground the Japanese leaders watched the effects of their missile barrage and then turned towards the Shogun, who asked – “how long until we launch again?”
One of the admirals stepped forward. “Sir, the bases will require one minute to recharge their launchers.”
“And how long until the Russians launch again?”
The same admiral opened his mouth to answer but before he could speak the command bunker’s computer spoke. “Missile launch detected. One hundred and twenty missiles outbound, targeted on our fleet.”
The admiral paled as the significance of the launch became clear. “Sir, the Russian bases have a launch time almost exactly one half of ours. They can launch more missiles than we can, and faster.”
The shogun’s face went blotchy as this latest setback settled in. The admirals around him began arguing again, each pushing their recommendations for the next step of the battle. The Shogun’s eyes went to the Cho-sho, who was turning from a nearby console.
“Sir.” Cho-sho Kintaro braced to attention. “I regret to tell you that we can no longer guarantee victory. Indeed, continuing the battle now will only result in the destruction of both fleets and possibly the extension of the missile battle to the surface of the Earth.”
The shogun paled and looked around at his admirals as if for a solution but none was in the offing.
Overhead, the battle continued. “Ma’am, look over here!” The Queen’s second in command was gesturing at a secondary screen which had been set to display the ships being worked on in the Japanese orbital yards. The sparkling of Russian rail gun hits had started around two massive Japanese jump ships being refitted in their orbital yards, along with several destroyers present for an overhaul. O’laughlin’s attention was drawn back to the Russian ground-based missile strike, which was running through the Japanese point defense envelope. Missiles were dying by the dozen, and after a second the Queen’s AI confirmed that the Japanese ground-based meson defenses had joined the fight, assisting the fleet to destroy fifty four of the incoming missiles. The remaining missiles closed on their nine targets, and soon explosions rippled through the Japanese fleet, claiming another cruiser and damaging several destroyers. In the meantime, another Japanese destroyer was destroyed by rail gun fire, as was one of the jump ships.
In the midst of the chaos a transmission was sent directly to the Japanese command bunker. The transmission was correctly identified by the Japanese command and control computers by its diplomatic codes, and routed to the Shogun’s attention. The message was from the Russians and stated, in essence, ‘We will stop if you will’. Cho-sho Kintaro immediately recommended accepting the Russian offer, as they had nothing to gain by extending the battle and could easily lose the rest of their fleet if they delayed. While the Shogun thought over the offer the Russian fleet destroyed the second Japanese jump ship with sustained rail gun fire. Watching the destruction of the massive ship convinced the Shogun. A response was sent immediately, promising to stand down all forces both in space and on the ground, but only if the Russians did the same.
The cost of the two minute long battle in orbit was heavy. The Japanese lost one missile cruiser and eight beam cruisers, along with two jumpships. The jumpships were by far their most painful loss. The Russians lost one cruiser, seven destroyers, and three colony ships which had been misidentified as destroyers by the Japanese during the battle.
The battle on the ground took longer to peter out, but it was essentially over as well. The Russians had gone over to the defensive even before the orbital battle, apparently recognizing that their “instant” infantry divisions were next to worthless on the attack, but on the defense they caused significant problems to the Japanese. Indeed, even as the orbital battle heated up twenty additional fresh cyber-infantry divisions were slamming into Japanese forces in Siberia, throwing them back along a broad line. The fighting over the last several days as the Japanese assault petered out was just as intense as the earlier fighting, and the losses for the Japanese was heavy. Five Imperial shock infantry and four infantry divisions were destroyed in the fighting, costing the Russians two of their fresh infantry divisions in return. The Russians paid dearly for the victory, though, losing 2.2 million non-combatants and fourteen economic facilities.
By the 20th of August the war was over. The Empire had completely failed to achieve any of its goals, and had lost the bulk of its army and a good portion of its navy in its failure. Total losses for the Empire amounted to forty eight divisions, including eight armored divisions, nine cruisers, seven point one million Chinese clone non-combatants, and thirty five economic facilities, including one slipway.
The losses suffered by the Russians were bad as well. The Russians lost ten point two million non-combatants and fifty nine economic facilities, forty nine divisions, and eight warships. No one knew what the Russians thought of the war or their losses, as they remained just as much of an enigma as before.
The Japanese government suffered an immense loss of face. The Shogun, along with Cho-sho Kintaro and Chos-sho Saitoh Nijina, commander of the Imperial Ground Forces, all committed ritual suicide in the days after the ceasefire.
August, 2033
The Alliance is having serious labor problems on Earth. Currently, Alliance Earth-bound industries are short almost 19 million workers, and this is projected to get worse in the future. The proximate cause, of course, is the lingering radiation in the atmosphere, but the situation has been aggravated by the massive colonization projects that are even now shipping people to Mars and New Boston. Unfortunately, the Alliance Council finds it politically difficult to stop the colonization program to try to mitigate the drain on available workers for Earth-bound industry as it is very popular with the people, many of whom have signed up to colonize other planets to escape the life-shortening radiation on Earth.
August 19, 2033
On this date, during a three hour period, almost all of the civilian computer networks in the Indian Republic, Alliance, and Reich crash during a three hour period. For the most part military computer networks remain operational, although they come under intense attack as well, and in some cases the networks are shut down or isolated to avoid penetration.
After several hours the networks are restored, although in many cases the network administrators had to resort to backups as large amounts of data was lost. Over the next several weeks investigators will discover significant evidence of a massive intrusion effort on the data-systems of all three democracies. While it isn’t clear that the perpetrator got anything out of the effort, aside from a massive disruption of normal activity, it is clear that normal system security was brushed aside by the penetration effort. After several days the governments of all three nations announce a joint investigation of the event now known as “The Crash”. The Russians are identified early on as a primary suspect, for obvious reasons, but the Japanese cannot be ruled out, especially as they did not suffer the same devastating cyber-attack that the other nations went through. The Japanese government does not respond to the veiled accusations from the other nations, but over the next several weeks several high officers with the Japanese Internal Security Service are publicly honored and promoted for protecting the Empire from external attack.
Over the next several months the data networks of the three nations continue to crash on an intermittent basis, causing the loss of billions in productivity as the government’s and corporations attempt to cope with the situation. Formal protests are filed with the Russians, but that is problematic as the Russians no longer maintain embassies with the other nations and won’t respond to any attempts at contact, no matter what form they take.
September, 2033
The Scarabus-002 jumps into the Novar-ti system, two jumps from Novara. The Scarabus-002, along with three Toad-II class destroyers, is searching for a missing survey group. To everyone’s relief, they find the three ships of the survey group huddled close to the warp point. Their story is troubling. Almost two years ago the Scarabus-001 suffered an engineering failure in its jump drive. This event proved to be almost disastrous for the First Survey Group, as the crew Scarabus-001 quickly discovered that the ship didn’t have the capability to repair the jump drive. In fact, there wasn’t enough maintenance supplies and engineering capacity on the ship to repair the jump drive should it fail seconds after leaving the dock, under ideal conditions, much less two jumps from home with depleted supplies. As a result, the three ships of Survey-001 have been stuck out here for two years, waiting for relief.
The commander of Scarabus-002 is horrified when he discovers this, and quickly has his crew check their engineering capacity and maintenance supply situation. The maintenance chief on board the Scarabus-002 confirms that they two are in the same situation. Should their jump drive fail, they will all be stuck out here until Novara builds a new jump ship. Without hesitation, the commander of the Scarabus-002 orders the combined group home at maximum speed.
When the combined survey groups return to Novara the government grounds all of the survey units until a solution to this problem can be implemented.
September 16, 2033
Riots erupt throughout the Imperial Japanese Pacific holdings. Many of the residents of these islands had hoped that the Empire’s apparent defeat in its war against the Russians and the suicide of the Empire’s top officials would result in a moderation of the Empire’s attitudes towards the non-Japanese Imperial citizens on the islands of the Pacific. Instead, the new government has been even more hardline than the old one, and has instituted harsh new rules for the non-Japanese citizens.
In response to the riots the Japanese government denounces the riots as an open rebellion, and orders a massive assault on the islands involved. Four of the Empire’s five remaining armored divisions are dispatched to the troubled areas, along with all four remaining assault divisions and most of the mobile infantry divisions. The Imperial divisions move into heavily populated areas of the Philippines and Indonesia without mercy, and the cities burn. Shocked analysts in the other countries estimate the death toll is at ten million within days of the fighting starting.
After one week the Japanese government makes a general announcement classifying the entire Pacific basin as being considered “in rebellion” against the central government. The three democratic nations protest the brutality of the Japanese response, but the Imperial Japanese government warns the other nations against any intervention and baldly states that while its conventional military forces may be weakened, the Empire’s nuclear deterrent is intact and will respond to any violation of the Empire’s sovereignty. In the end the other governments are forced to watch as Imperial Japanese forces kill tens of millions of the Empire’s own citizens.
The Alliance announces that it is reorganizing and re-focusing its governmental priorities towards dealing with the continuing population decrease on Earth. In particular, the government announces that the very popular colonial transport program is being severely scaled back to reduce the drain of productive workers. The government emphasizes the fact that these changes are temporary in nature. The other changes involve a massive reorganization of the government’s priorities which one official characterizes as a shift away from a focus on R&D towards a focus on domestic population issues, including population growth and moderation of the effects of lingering radiation.
The Reich follows suit later on in the month.
October 10, 2033
The Alliance 4th Survey Group jumps through a newly located jump point in the Kappa Ceti system and emerges 180 million kilometers from the primary star of a binary system. The new system is quickly identified as the Chi Draconis system, approximately 26 light years from earth. The system has an F5-Vprimary and a G6-V secondary star, both of which are orbited by numerous planets and asteroids. Shortly after entering the system the survey ships detect a population on the third planet of the primary star, approximately 390 million kilometers away.
Commodore Owen Eischens, commanding the 4th aboard the grav-survey ship Congreve, follows standard operations orders and orders the 4th’s second grav-survey ship, the Newton, to set a course towards the alien population. The Newton sets out at 2/3’s its maximum speed, or 3,200 kps, towards the system’s third planet. The other three ships of the 4th, including its two jump ships, huddle around the warp point and reduce their emissions as much as possible. Commodore Eischens fears that it is too little, too late, as they emerged relatively close to the inner system and the population. Still, standing orders are to initiate contact with a new race, especially if they may be already detected by the aliens.
Eight hours later the Newton makes two discoveries. First, a second alien population is detected on one of the moons of the system’s fourth planet. The new population appears to be a colony of the first. While the Newton has been traveling it has been gathering and transmitting back information on the alien population, and now populations. The main population on the third planet has a thermal signature of 25,356, and an EM signature of 91,459. These values indicate to Commodore Eischens that the population on the third planet is significant, as they are within 10% of the values for the Alliance population on Earth. The newly detected population is much smaller, with a thermal signature of 6,175.
Shortly after detecting the new population the Newton detects six spacecraft closing on it from the direction of the third planet. The ships are detected at a relatively close range, just under eight million kilometers, and their thermal signature is just 158, compared to the Newton’s own signature of 350. The ships are closing at 3,000 kps, which gives Captain Limage of the Newton a little bit of confidence. Captain Limage, hoping to appear non-threatening, orders his ship to come to a halt and allows the aliens to approach. When the alien ships break one million kilometers, Captain Limage orders a brief active sensor scan of the incoming ships. The aliens immediately reciprocate and scan the Newton. The information gained by the scan is revealing. The alien ships mass approximately 10,650 tons, in spite of their very small thermal signature.
The six alien ships continue their approach until they reach 100,000 kilometers of the Newton, then they come to a halt. Captain Limage begins first contact protocols, and within a few minutes the crew of the Newton detects transmissions from one of the alien ships.
December 21, 2033
Captain Limage and the crew of the Newton succeed in deciphering the alien language. The aliens call themselves the Millungera. In appearance, they are small, perhaps a meter tall, with wrinkled brown leathery skin and large, droopy ears. The Millungera possess high-pitched, scratchy sounding voices that tend to be very annoying to humans, however, they appear to be friendly and seem to be interested in learning more about humanity, and teaching humans more about their race.
Intelligence Report
The Alliance
Over the last year the Alliance government has been forced to the realization that the population losses due to radiation are not “short-term” or “temporary” as it had been characterizing them, and that more extensive efforts are necessary to deal with the long-term effects. To this end the Alliance government has temporarily halted the colonization program, which had been popular with the general population, as it was causing a significant drain on the Alliance’s Earth-bound population. This drain had caused significant shortages on the available workforce, shortages which reached 19 million in mid-2033. In addition to a cessation of the shipment of colonists off world, the Alliance has mandated a refocusing of industrial effort to the production of things that will not further stretch the limited workforce, such as automated mining complexes, infrastructure, and other less manpower intensive items. By the end of 2033 the Alliance manpower shortage on Earth has shrunk to 10.58 million workers, largely due to the aforementioned programs and the continuing shipment off-world of mines and construction factories to the colonies. In all, the total Alliance population dropped 15.6 million over the last year.
The Alliance has two colonies, the Mars Colony and New Boston in the Alpha Cephi system. New Boston is now considered an ideal environment for humanity due to the efforts of the Alliance 1st Terraforming Fleet, while Mars is near perfect, at a 0.027 colony cost rating. The Mars Colony currently boasts 365 million colonists, while New Boston has a population of 31.9 million. The Mars Colony’s population is almost equally divided between construction jobs and mining efforts, and the Mars Colony now houses 44% of the Alliance’s construction capacity. New Boston is almost completely focused on mining efforts. The Alliance also maintains two mining outposts, one on Europa in the Solar System and the other on a moon in the 58 Eridani system.
The Alliance 1st Terraforming Fleet has relocated to the fifth planet of Alpha Cephi, which has been designated as New London. The planet is currently considered a colony cost 2.00 world, and while it has an atmosphere rich in nitrogen, it also has significant amounts ammonia and methane, and is too hot. New London has extensive deposits of eight trans-Newtonian minerals, but unfortunately, seven of those deposits are present at very low availability levels. Only sorium is present at good availability levels, and thus the Alliance is currently planning on making New London its primary fuel mining and refining center, once colonization starts again.
The Alliance government has been holding high-level talks with both the Reich and India about the ongoing situations with the USSR and the Japanese Empire. While no definitive link between The Crash and the USSR has been found, the governments of all three nations believe that the Russians were behind the ongoing computer problems. As a result all three governments have spent billions on securing their systems and have stepped up their surveillance efforts on the Russians. The Japanese are problematic as well. While the active fighting in the Pacific basin has fallen off, Japanese military units are still active throughout the area, and the Empire has begun mass population transfers, moving civilians from their homes in Indonesia and the Philippines to China, and moving Chinese clones into the newly vacate areas. While this has been going on the new Japanese government has largely sealed off the Empire from outsiders, and what little is coming out of the news blockade is very disturbing. Intelligence assets indicate that the unrest throughout the Pacific has pushed the Emperor into making a very rare Imperial decree ordering a widespread program of genetic alteration on the Japanese people, designed to “ensure their race’s advantage over the inferior races of the Earth”.
The Greater European Reich
Much like the Alliance, the Reich has been forced to significantly change its policies to deal with the ongoing population loss caused by background radiation. The Reich has lost eighteen million citizens over the last year, and combined with the colonization program and radiation effects this has caused significant efficiency problems throughout the Reich. While the problem in the Reich is not as severe as the problem in the Alliance, largely due to the influx of workers from North Africa, it is still chronic and troubling to the government. As of the end of 2033 worker shortages on Earth are at 4.16 million and climbing.
The Reich has three off-world colonies, Venus, Nue Berlin, and Nue Paris. Venus is by far the largest, with a population of 356 million, while Nue Berlin and Nue Paris boast populations of 49.98 and 2.4 million, respectively. Venus has an ideal environment for humanity, while Nue Berlin is currently considered a colony cost 2.48 world, and Nue Paris is a colony cost 2.0 world. The Reich terraforming fleet is currently operational over Nue Berlin, adding greenhouse gasses to the planet’s atmosphere. The Reich also has a major mining outpost on a comet in the Hamburg system, and several exploratory minin
